Caridad Ferrer is a first generation, bilingual Cuban-American, whose young adult debut, Adiós to My Old Life was Romance Writers of America’s 2007 RITA® winner for Best Contemporary Single Title Romance as well as being named to the 2009 Popular Paperbacks for Young Adults list by the ALA. Her latest novel, When the Stars Go Blue, a contemporary retelling of Bizet’s Carmen, was released by Thomas Dunne Books and was honored as the first place YA Novel: English Language at the 2011 International Latino Book Awards.

A native Floridian, Ferrer now makes her home in the Pacific Northwest, thriving amidst the rain and cooler weather, finding it the perfect writing environment.

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Okay, so that’s the formal bio. Dry, right? It gives you the facts, but it doesn’t really tell you anything. Plus there’s that whole talking about one’s self in third person that always strikes me as a bit too pro athlete, you know? Thing is, though, I’m kind of terrible at talking about myself. So I went to my friends.

Here’s what they said:

Caridad Ferrer loves puppies and kittens. She sings each time she sees a rainbow. She once saved a baby bird and deposited it gently back into its nest. She once beat Chuck Norris in a chess tournament. She loves books, as well. She would love you to read her books. The end.

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Really, I should have known better.

It’s not that they’re entirely wrong. I do love puppies and kittens. I do sing, a lot, rainbows not required. The bird thing is a total lie since an Eagle Scout beat me to it. And as far as Chuck Norris, I’m more a trivia girl and besides, we all know Chuck Norris wins the match before the board’s even set up.

I do love books. A lot. I love reading them and I especially love writing them. I’m even lucky enough to get to do this as, you know, a job. Or calling. Or obsession.

So what else about me?

Let’s do this like a OK Cupid form or something.

Full name: Barbara Caridad Ferrer (My mother named me after two saints. No, I have no idea what she was thinking, either.)

Nicknames: Barb, Babs (if someone’s feeling sassy), Barbie only if someone feels like risking their life

Thin or thick crust pizza? Thin, please. Loaded with cheese and caramelized onions and good artisinal pepperoni… (Sorry. Went off to a Happy Place there.)

Lakes or oceans? Oceans, no question about it. There is absolutely nothing like the smell of salt on the air. My dream is to one day have a house on the beach. (So buy lots of books so I can one day make my dream happen, pretty please?)

Photo credit: Adam Emperor Southard

Ben & Jerry’s or Häagen Dazs? I have to choose?

Ten or Eleven? I’m a David Tennant girl through and through. Plus, Ten had the best Companion ever in Donna Noble. (No offense to Nine fans, but he never quite grew on me.)

Coke or Pepsi? I’m a Coke girl from way back. These days, it’s Diet Coke w/ Splenda. If I squint, it sort of tastes like real Coke. (But not New Coke, since that was an abomination best forgotten.)

Astronaut or supermodel? Neither. When I was growing up my life’s ambition was to be Barbra Streisand but without the diva ‘tude. No, seriously—I wanted to be a triple threat, singing, dancing, acting, doing the occasional film interspersed with gigs in smoky jazz clubs singing torch songs. The onset of a raging case of audition anxiety kind of put an end to that dream, but I still sing in the car and play music at every possible opportunity.

All right… this is getting out of hand. When it comes down to it, I’m a person with a lot of wide-ranging interests. I love music, movies, television, art, theatre, sports, books, cooking, my family, my dogs, living in one of the coolest cities ever, meeting new people, and talking to them about any and all of the above mentioned interests and any they’d care to introduce me to. I’ve got a lot of passions and am pretty free with my opinion. People are also free to disagree with me, it’s all cool.